Problem Finding, Creativity Style and the Musical Compositions of High School Students

✍ Scribed by DAVID J. BRINKMAN

• Publisher: Creative Education Foundation
• Year: 1999
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 68 KB
• Volume: 33
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0022-0175
• DOI: 10.1002/j.2162-6057.1999.tb01038.x

✦ Synopsis

This study sought to understand the effect of problem finding and creativity style on the creative musical product. Participants (N = 32) were categorized by creativity style (adaptor or innovator) using the Kirton Adaption-Innovation Inventory. The participants completed two musical composition problems involving two different degrees of problem finding behaviors: an open (ill defined) and a closed (more defined) problem. The resulting products were scored for creativity by three judges using a modified version of Amabile's "consensual assessment technique." A repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to analyze the data. The independent variables were composition problem type and creativity style, and the dependent variable was the creativity score on the open and closed problems. No significant differences due to problem type, creativity style, or the interaction of the two factors was found. This research supports the assertion of Kirton that adaption-innovation theory is a measure of creativity style rather than creativity level, but calls into question its use in individual creativity style.

In view of the renewed interest in music creativity (MENC, 1994), it is important for music teachers to understand how students go about being creative. The issue of interest for educators is how to structure a creative task to encourage and facilitate creativity. The literature on creative problem finding (Getzels